Iraan Homecoming

We went to Cameron's homecoming this weekend. Iraan does homecoming like I've never seen, it's 90% about the Ex's coming home (I guess that's how it should be, given the name.) Our niece Loren was chosen as the freshman duchess, so she got to get all gussied up and looked absolutely beautiful! The game was pretty exciting with the Braves winning in overtime. Of course, Brynna and I left right after the halftime presentation, so I missed all the excitement. Saturday was a parade and a tribute to Lucky Floyd, who was the band director there for many years. During the tribute, several ex band members, including Cameron and his sister Amy, performed and sounded really good! I was really surprised, some of those people have been out of school for nearly 30 years! Here's a link to all the pics that I took, but here's our sweet Lo, as D'Laney calls her. She's such a beautiful girl, inside and out, and we're so proud of her! And the boys, too!

Prayer Request

I have a friend from junior high, Sunny, that has a beautiful, sweet baby girl named Cameryn. Last week, Cameryn started having seizures, and after an MRI, her doctor rushed them to Cook's Childrens Hospital. They've diagnosed her with Cryptogenic Infantile Spasms, meaning there's no medical cause of the seizures. They were sent home with a series of steroid injections, and in two weeks will go back to Cook's to see how well they've worked. Sunny and Lance, and their whole families, have had an amazing faith throughout this whole ordeal, and know that God is the Great Physician. Prayers are being said for this sweet baby all over the place, but I'd like to ask for yours, as well.

Warning: kinda gross pictures

My sister had a tonsillectomy yesterday. Since my parents are in their first week at new schools, they decided to only take yesterday morning off for the surgery, and asked if I could come stay with Cadye for the rest of the week. I've had two C-sections, but I think Cadye's poor throat is in far worse shape than my gut. It hurts her to swallow, eat, drink, talk, even breathe. She's staying on top of her pain meds, and she's really doing pretty well considering, but, man, I'm glad it's not me!






Lol, kinda sums up how she feels!

8 months!!

I'm a few days late for this post, but we've been a little busy.
My sweet Brynna Belle is 8 months! How?! Just 4 short months away from 1 year old!! This baby has changed so much in the last two months, it's crazy! She went from a quiet, timid, stationary little thing to a loud, notice me, into everything, totally mobile big girl!
~at her appt last month, she weighed 17lbs, 6 oz. (The last time I reported her weight, I said she weighted 12 something, when I should have said 15 lbs. We haven't had a massive growth spurt in the last couple months!)
~has 6 teeth! 4 on top, 2 on bottom, and she knows how to use them! She likes to bite my shoulder, hard! and laughs when I get on to her. Fortunately, she's only bitten me while nursing a couple times.
~With the biting has come her first discipline. Verbal discipline has only made her laugh, so I've tapped her hand a few times.
~still nursing, but not as much as she was. When we started solids, my milk production took a little bit of a dive. (Something else returned at almost the exact same time, and that was probably the real reason. And can I just say that I think it's totally unfair that I can no longer have kids, but I still have to deal with girly stuff like that!)
~anyway, lol, because of the dip in my milk, Brynna is eating solids four times a day. Oatmeal first thing in the morning, lunch and dinner of vegetables, and rice cereal right before bedtime.
~the cereal before bedtime is an attempt to get her to sleep better, and it's not working. Brynna was sleeping through the night at 2 months old, and not just through the night, about 10 or 12 hours in a row! But about 2 months ago, she started getting up 3, 4, sometimes 5 times a night. And let me tell you, this momma is tired! Finally, a few nights ago, she slept from 10:30 to 7:30, which was awesome, but the next we day we left for my parents house, and she's been up several times a night every night we've been down here. Maybe when we finally get home and get back into a regular routine, she'll be better about it again. I could really use the rest!
~she is crawling everywhere, and fast! Most of the time, she crawls on her right foot and left knee. She pushes up on her hands and feet a lot, too, and doesn't understand why she's not moving.
~she's pulling up on everything, and in her monitor, I watched her take about 4 steps cruising around her crib.
~loves walking while holding onto your fingers, but she's still way wobbly. If you try to sit her on the ground, she locks her legs and won't sit, she wants to be up all the time.
~her only word right now is dada, but it's not just a sound anymore, she uses it correctly. But she talks all.day.long. And she does this long, drawn out grunt thing that is hilarious. I thought she was going to be my quiet little child, but it looks like I'm going to be the only quiet one in my household for the next 18 years or so.
~sort of waves and says bye-bye, but I think it's one of those things that we think we hear just because we want to.
~loves, loves, loves her big sister, and the feeling is absolutely reciprocated. My girls are giddy when they see each other first thing in the mornings. It melts my heart.
~has the biggest blue eyes, the softest blonde hair, and is becoming a beautiful little girl... not that I'm biased or anything ;)



Brynna had to get in on the action of Sister's princess party, too. "If the tiara fits..."

What a 3 year old looks like

What will she look like as a teenager?!?!?!

1st 3rd birthday

Today we had the first of two birthday parties for D'Laney. She's turning 3, THREE!! I can't believe it, and I'm doing my best not to think about it. I just can't handle it. With Brynna turning 8 months yesterday (more about that tomorrow) and all the changing and growing that she's doing daily, I'm just having a little bit of trouble dealing with my firstborn now considered a pre-schooler!
We had a fabulous princess party for D'Laney with my side of the family. We'll celebrate again with Cameron's side while we're on vacation with them next weekend, on her actual birthday. The party was complete with tiaras, big diamond rings, and beautiful princess dress, and a castle cake made by yours truly. The cake turned out a lot better than I thought it would, so I was pretty proud of it! I have friends who are very talented when it comes to cake making, and their stuff looks very professional. My cakes are about as far from professional as they could be, but I love making them myself for my loved ones, however homemade they may look.
I'm just going to post the link to my facebook page for all the pictures, but here's my Princess D'Laney and her wonderful daddy.

What a mess...

And I'm not just talking about my house. Actually, it's rather spic and span right now, except for the laundry. (I'm choosing to believe it's done, too.)
No, the mess has been pretty much everything else around here. Some of it has been good, some not so good.
The good mess is our wreck of a back yard. We've torn down 63% of the buggy shed, otherwise known as the garage, and we're just waiting for a weekend where Cameron can bring some heavy equipment home from the yard to get it finished, and pray no neighborhood kids walk through and the whole thing collapses. This past weekend we tore down the backyard fence, which was buried about 4 inches and the post were cemented into their holes. So now we have a small, waterless mote protecting our backyard from cats and hoodlums roaming the alley. Cameron plans to start rebuilding the fence tonight and hopefully get the garage torn down this weekend.
The bad mess has been our Internet service. It's been pretty sketchy over the last two years, but I fully believe in supporting small town businesses, so I let it slide. However, after 2 weeks of almost no service, I had enough. I cancelled and switched to a major provider. We got everything going and set an installation date. That came and went. After 2 days I called to see what the problem was, and after an hour and a half on the phone, we finally got it all set. As of yesterday, I now have even faster service, plus a brand new home phone line. That isn't working. So I'll be on the phone again as soon as my cell charges. Ugh! It's been almost a month dealing with the internet problems, and who knows how long it'll take to get the phone going.
Going without internet for a short time shouldn't turn my life upside down, but it sure seems like it does. I can't birthday shop (it's much easier looking online and then going to the store for something specific,) I've missed a couple of emails that I really needed, and I haven't had a way to check on bills, etc. So frustrating!
Ahh, that feels so much better. I love having this to rant on. My husband loves it, too, saves him from having to hear it. Again.
I'll post later today or tomorrow on what my sweet little girls are up to (hint: a lot!)